would this be traumatic...

[hazeldust]

My kidlets are 3, 5, and 7. I've been going back and forth between hs'ing and sending them to the montessori charter school. finally i decided and applied to the montessori. unfortunately my daughter, going into K, got in, but because of lack of space for older kids my would be first grader did not. At first i was really against the idea of sending my daughters(the younger one would automatically get in when she is of age) and hs'ing my son. now i am considering it. im just really anxious about hs'ing all three if them. if i had just my son to focus on the pressure would not be so great and maybe i would do a better job. no matter how i rationalize this in my head my instincts tell me to keep them all home. if i can teach one i can teach all three, not to mention that im sure my son would feel very left out. has anyone done this? what do you think?

[sapphire_chan]

You know your children. How are their personalities? Would your son feel "left out" if instead of going to the Montessori school he got lots of extra time with you? Are your daughters going to feel jealous of him? What aspects of Montessori do you like and could you incorporate them in your homeschooling? What are the chances that a spot will open up later on in the school for your son (if he decides he does want to go)?

[Sijae]

Well you know your kids best but I would have to weigh in on the bad idea side. I can definitely see it being a problem between the kids and in terms of difficulty home-schooling I think it would be much harder for you to try to keep up with public and home schooling. I sent my kids to a montessori charter school for 4 years and it was montessori which I loved, but it's still institutional schooling and you have to work around the school schedule for everything. JMO that it would make it much harder on yourself trying to do both. Now I know there are lots of parents who do it...it just seems like it would be harder to handle especially the first year home-schooling.

Laura

[mandib50]

i think if your instincts are telling you to keep them all at home ... then listen

the thing is ... i don't know about your regulations and where you live, i wouldn't formally do anything with the 3 and 5 year old. (they could sit in on stories and do some printing if they really wanted to.) with the 7 year old it would be pretty basic and it really doesn't have to be overwhelming and time consuming.

good luck!

[Drummer's Wife]

I'm not sure what I'd do. I had hoped to get my dd into a Montessori charter school for the fall but when she didn't get in the first round I decided to go with my other plan of homeschooling and not apply for the second round.
I do think everything happens for a reason and am hoping that homeschooling works out well for my family.

Do you desire Montessori long term? I think if you have plans of enrolling your children at the M school in the future then maybe you should accept the position and let your dd attend. I would guess that they may have some type of sibling priority and when a spot opens for an older child yours may get in.

I know how you feel about being anxious to hs 3 kids, mine are also all 2 yrs apart and at times it seems overwhelming just thinking about it. My instinct also tells me to keep them home and so I would listen to your heart if that is what you are feeling. I don't know what I would have done if my dd had been accepted, good Montessori schools can be hard to get into and it is the only education I will consider besides HS'ing.

I agree with Laura that trying to do both will be difficult. Yes you will have less children at home for a few hrs a day but the demands of public school schedules will be tiring, IMO. Just the dropping off and picking up daily is too much for me and would distrupt the flow of the day. But then at the same time I love, love, love Montessori and there are just some aspects of it that cannot be replicated in a home environment so either way I think you children will benefit.

Good luck figuring this all out

-Katie